//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: A Daring Plan // Story: Daring Do and the Iron Pyramid // by Unwhole Hole //------------------------------// Daring Do moved quickly to the edge of the town, past where the thestrals were doing their best to recover. The sun had started to set, and a few ponies had emerged from the fort. They sensed that the danger was over. Daring Do was not so sure it was. Wun caught up to her. “It has escaped,” she said. “No. She hasn’t. She’s going back to the Pyramid, just like Wisdom said she would.” “To do what, exactly?” Daring Do frowned, but did not slow her pace. “I don’t know. But I think it’s something bad.” “Whether it is or is not, it does not matter either way.” Wun shrugged. “I still intend to capture it.” “She. She’s a mare. A unicorn, and an old one.” “A unicorn that can take a caster shell to the face.” “A shell you shouldn’t have fired with ponies so close! You could have hurt somepony, really bad!” “I did what I had to. And I shall continue to do what is required. At the speed you are walking, am I to assume you have a plan?” “I think so. We need to stop her. I don’t know what she’s doing, and I don’t think she’ll tell us like this.” Daring looked over her shoulder. “She came out here for the library. To assimilate knowledge about our world.” “Tactical knowledge? Or strategic?” “I don’t know.” “How much did she take?” “All of it.” Wun stopped. “You mean to say she drew knowledge from every book?” Daring Do, likewise, stopped. “Yes. Why?” “Because House Twilight is known to specialize in magic. Very powerful, very dark magic. And often, it is said, magic associated with incomprehensible depravity. Although the latter is mostly a rumor." Daring Do had not considered that. “And now...she knows everything Twilight Felt knew...” “Yes.” Daring Do took a breath and started flying. Wun followed in a graceful gallop, moving swiftly over the darkening desert sand toward the Get Out Inn. “And your plan?” “Her sarcophagus. It was built to contain her. I think that’s what the runes were for. If I can get to it, I think I can use it to stop her.” “The spells are written in a language we cannot understand.” “No. The spells are written in HER language. I think...I think she was trying to communicate before. Telepathically. It didn’t work, but I think...well, I think I can read her language now. At least a little bit.” “You think you can read the spell.” “I think that magic is powerful enough to contain her.” Daring Do groaned. “Except it will take time to read the spell. And I...I don’t think it will work if she’s moving. There's probably a ritual or an incantation or something, and I need time to be able to cast it." “I see,” said Wun. “So what is it you need from me?” Daring Do landed, not near the Inn but near the termite mounds where the sha were now resting, content and fat off their extended meal. The leader of the group stood up, approaching Daring Do and licking her face with its long tongue. “You have to stop her from moving. Just for long enough for me to read the spell.” “Assuming you can get it prepared in time.” “I have to.” Daring Do looked to her sister. "So I will." Wun sighed. “Then I shall stop it.” “If you think you have a plan of your own...I hadn’t really thought that far ahead...” “I think I can spellbind her.” Daring Do’s jaw clenched. “That’s insane, why would you even think that? She’s a several-thousand-year-old mage with a body that, so far, we haven’t even been able to put a scratch on! And a telepath, and, as we just went through, she now possesses an entire library worth of modern and archaic spells--” “She can’t use spells if she is spellbound. That is how it works. Skill has nothing to do with it. Only raw power, and raw will. I will be able to survive for several seconds. So you will need to succeed, and do so with great precision.” “Wun, I can’t let you do that--” “I am putting my faith in you, sister, for your half of this plan. Please also put your faith in me.” She lifted her rifle and ejected the magazine. She removed one round from it. It was another caster shell, although this one had a tip made out of a violet material, like carved amethyst. She cast her magic around the shell, and then extended it to Daring Do. “But if I do fail, you will need this.” “I can’t--” “It is a thirty-seven. A condensed teleportation spell. Not something that will work on a mage, but it will work on you. If I fail, and if this goes as badly as I expect it might, break the shell. I have tuned it to take you to the nearest white unicorn. As repulsive as House Twilight is, they are among the most respectable of all of us. He will protect you when I could not.” Daring Do looked up at Wun, suddenly feeling on the verge of tears. “Also,” said Wun, “I am sorry I called you a beast. I got too excited.” Daring Do, with tears in her eyes, took the shell and tucked it into her pocket. As she did, she produced a scrap of paper and a pen and scribbled a note down on it. “These are the coordinates,” she said. “I’ll set the trap there.” “And I will be waiting.” Daring nodded, and then straddled the back of her chosen sha. The creature stood up, as did the rest of them, the whole of the herd letting out a low, somber warble. Then, with one last nod, Daring Do took to the desert, its sands drenched in the light of a beautiful sunset. Wun watched her go. She was smiling.